


Because What I Feel (Can Only Be Said in Your Name)

by LarrysGlassCloset



Category: Larry Stylinson - Fandom, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anxiety, Camp Nanowrimo, Cute, Fluffy, Highschool AU, M/M, Shy Harry, football louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-01 07:51:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6509314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarrysGlassCloset/pseuds/LarrysGlassCloset
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a highschool au in which anxious!Harry somehow gets the attention of the school's football star Louis. They're both shy and generally awkward, but also endearing and heartfelt.</p>
<p>This is my project for April's Camp NaNoWriMo 2016. It will be updated at least every three days, and will be complete by the end of April. The end word count will be about 15k.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Louis banged his lock against his locker in frustration when he messed up his code for the second time in a row. He tried again, turning it more slowly this time, and breathing out in relief when he heard the familiar click from within the device.  
The inside of his locker was just as messy as it always was, and he dug through it for a few seconds to find the books he needed. Stupid math. Stupid geography.  
Louis turned around and, with a deep breath, entered the crowd of students. His math class was at the other end of the school, so he had to hurry if he wanted to get there in time. The teacher had assigned them a long and tedious math investigation over the weekend and he’d stayed up Sunday night into early Monday morning trying to finish it, so he didn’t want to waste his efforts by being late.  
He’d just rounded the last corner at a half-jog when he noticed a large dick-shaped graffiti on someone’s locker. He was distracted by it for a second too long because suddenly he was colliding with a soft body. Clutching his books tightly with one hand, Louis managed to catch the other person by the arm with his other hand. There was a momentary pause before the other person pulled themselves away and Louis could get a good look at him.  
The boy was tall and lanky, with pale skin and brown curly hair. Louis couldn’t see his eyes because his face was turned so far down that his chin was close to touching his own chest.  
“Sorry,” he mumbled, so quietly that Louis almost missed it.   
“Don’t worry about it,” Louis said. He was more breathless than he probably should have been in this situation.  
The boy nodded minutely and, after a moment of hesitation, walked past Louis in the direction he’d been going earlier. He was careful to give Louis a wide berth, as if to eliminate any chance of accidentally touching him. His shoulders were hunched and he took quick, nervous steps, but the only thing Louis could focus on was the need to see his eyes. He wanted to know this boy.  
-  
“But he didn’t even look at me once, and I still could not for the life of me do anything productive during math!” Louis complained as he arrived at his friends’ lunch table, collapsing dramatically into Liam’s lap.   
“Get off me, you nincompoop,” Liam grumbled, lightly pushing Louis’ shoulder.  
Zayn gestured to the empty chair next to him sympathetically, and Louis moved there with a roll of his eyes and a pat to Zayn’s cheek.   
“What did he look like?” Zayn asked. He pushed his school lunch away from him ever so slightly, glad for an excuse not to look at it. He’d forgotten his own lunch at home that day, so was forced to buy the crappy school one.  
Louis sighed wistfully. “I don’t even know, really. He wouldn’t look at me. But he had lovely curly hair, and he’d be taller than me if he didn’t slouch so much, I think.”  
“You should ask him out then,” Zayn said encouragingly.  
Liam nodded. “Yeah! Then you could double date with me and Danielle.”  
“Gross.” Louis wrinkled his nose in disdain. “You two are the grossest couple I’ve ever had the misfortune of looking at.”  
“Way too sweet and lovey-dovey,” agreed Zayn.   
He gave Louis a fist-bump and Liam glared playfully at them both. “Shut up. You’re just jealous.”  
“I’ll be jealous of Louis soon by the sounds of it,” said Zayn. “The life of a starving artist is a lonely one.”  
“Oh, shut up,” said Liam. “You’re hardly a starving artist.”  
“Besides, at least I love you, Zayn!” said Louis.   
He tried his hardest to plant a wet kiss on Zayn’s cheek, but his friend fought him off valiantly. Eventually he gave up and just blew him a kiss instead. Zayn caught it and threw it in the trash can beside their table, making Louis gasp as though he’d been shot.   
“I feel betrayed,” he wept. “For the object of my affections has turned me away.”  
He was two seconds away from dropping to the floor on his knees when Zayn put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting out of his chair. His hand was shaking with his laughter.   
“Chill out, drama queen,” he said. “If you profess your love for me too loudly, lover boy might hear and think you’re taken.”  
Louis’ eyes widened instantly and he slumped into his chair. “Ugh, alright. I’m out of your league anyway, Malik.”  
“Sure,” Zayn replied easily.   
“Hey, what class do you have after lunch?” Liam asked Louis, texting on his phone under the table at the same time.  
Louis shrugged. “I think I have science. Ew.”  
“Is lover boy in your class?” he continued.   
“I have no idea,” said Louis. “If he is, I haven’t noticed him before. And stop calling him lover boy.”  
“Find out his name and I won’t have to call him that,” Liam dared him, looking away from his phone to raise his eyebrows at Louis.  
Louis heard the challenge in his comment and nodded defiantly. “I think I will,” he said, sitting up a little straighter. “You just wait. Next time I see him, I’ll talk to him.”  
“Okay then,” said Liam. “I’ll hold you to that. And so will Zayn.”  
Zayn nodded in agreement. “If you don’t at least know his name by the end of the week, you can buy us both lunch next Monday.”  
“And what do I get if I do?” asked Louis.  
Liam shrugged. “You get to know his name and maybe get a future husband?”  
“You guys suck,” Louis groaned, but he nodded anyway. “Alright, deal. God knows I’d take ages to approach him if a couple of school lunches weren’t on the line…”  
“If you don’t shush it we’ll up the bet to gourmet home-cooked lunches,” Liam threatened, and Louis closed his mouth.  
Until he remembered another piece of information that had been bothering him: “Also, when I saw him earlier, we were going in opposite directions. But about halfway through math, he walked in and sat down!” he said with a frown.   
“Maybe he was helping a teacher with something?” Liam suggested.  
Zayn waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe he was getting it on with someone in the janitor’s closet.”  
Louis went to punch Zayn’s shoulder but it was dodged at the last minute. He couldn’t be bothered making another attempt, so he settled for sticking his tongue out decidedly at Zayn.   
“Hey, he could’ve been,” Zayn said defensively. “Hell, for all we know he could even be straight.”  
A mock-disgusted silence fell upon the both of them and Liam looked up from his phone once more. “You guys suck,” he said, but there was no malice in his words.   
They simply shook their heads and tutted condescendingly until Liam gave up and went back to texting Danielle. Before any more conversation could start, however, the bell rang, and they were all forced to leave the relative freedom of the cafeteria and attend their next classes. Louis didn’t dread it as much as he usually did, because he clung to the hope that maybe the cute guy was in his class and he just hadn’t noticed him before.  
He fared a little better in science than he had in math, but his mind still wandered a couple of times. His daydreams were wild and erratic, because what he’d seen of the boy so far was so minimal it didn’t really give him much to work with, so he had to fill in the blanks himself. He was totally going to find out the boy’s name at least, even if it was just to prove Liam and Zayn wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis and Harry's phys ed classes combine. They play a game of football and locker room awkwardness ensues.

The next day, Louis came to school in his running shoes, because he had a double period of gym class in the morning and football training after school. So did Liam and Zayn – they were both in his gym class, but Zayn wasn’t on the football team. “I’ve got better things to do with my time, like, you know, literally anything but chasing a ball around a field,” Zayn joked every time they tried to convince him to sign up. Zayn was more of an artistic stoner type, and would rather sit outside with a cigarette than try to muscle his way past a bunch of guys.  
By the time the entire class was gathered in front of the gym, they had to wait another five minutes or so before the teacher finally arrived. He was smiling, and the students were already beginning to groan aloud because that was never a good sign.  
“Good news!” Mr Harvey crowed. “Today, we’re combining with the other class!”  
“No,” cried Louis.  
Joining with the other class that had Phys Ed at the same time as them always meant lots of running laps and monotonous group exercises.  
Somehow, the teacher seemed not to notice the not-so-eager responses of his class, or maybe he just didn’t care. Either way, he let them into the gym, and the other class was already in there kicking balls around and talking. Some less extroverted kids were sitting or standing against the wall in conversation or on their phones.  
It took Louis a few minutes to notice, but when he finally did, he couldn’t not notice it. “You guys, the cute boy is in this class!” he hissed, jabbing Liam with his elbow when he took a second too long to pay attention to him.  
“Which one is he?” Zayn asked. He and Liam were both scanning the room.  
“In the corner, with the curly hair,” Louis said. “He’s sitting next to the bleach-blond boy.” He didn’t want to point because Harry seemed to be looking directly at them, even though his gaze was sweeping across their entire class and not just their small group.  
Zayn nodded approvingly. “He’s cute.”  
“Oh, really?” Louis rolled his eyes. “I hadn’t noticed.”  
“Go talk to him,” said Liam, giving Louis a little nudge.  
Louis let out a groan. Liam’s idiotic comments were the bane of his existence. “Obviously I can’t do -that,” he said.  
Liam raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”  
“Because…he’s with his friend. That’d be weird.”  
Zayn laughed at him. “Lou, even I can tell that you’re just grasping at straws now. You should talk to him, or I will.”  
Louis paled. “I will. You, stay away.”  
They had no time to discuss the issue further because Mr Harvey finally decided to get the classes’ attention. By blowing his silver whistle loudly in an ear-piercing shriek, causing a buzz of complaints from the students. He dropped the whistle from his mouth and let it hang around his neck. Louis could see his shining spit on the mouthpiece from where he was standing and he shuddered.  
“As you all probably are aware of, Mr Garcia is going to be away for a week or two because he just had a surgery on his knee,” Mr Harvey announced. “Until he comes back, I’m going to take both our classes, since we were at the same time anyway.”  
Some kids dared to boo playfully and Mr Harvey smiled at them, pointing to the running track around the perimeter of the gym.  
“Congratulations. You’ve just given everyone three laps. Get started!”  
With a chorus of groans and half-assed excuses, the student body reluctantly began their laps. Some people glared at the boys who’d brought them on, but it was widely known that Mr Harvey liked giving laps and would usually find excuses to give them, regardless of the situation.  
Louis didn’t mind running. He was built for short, hair-raising sprints, rather than long distance running, but he wasn’t necessarily bad at it. He was usually in the front ten or so people who led the pack, but today he had to stop and fix his shoelace, so by the time he was finished he was near the back. He was considering trying to catch up to Liam and Zayn, but he noticed the distinguishable curly hair some ways in front of him, running with his head up and his back tense. Sometimes he would lag behind his blond friend by mere centimeters before someone would step on the back of his shoe, and he’d spring forward again like a spring released from its coil.  
Since he wasn’t visible to the boy from this angle, Louis wasted no time in checking him out. He was taller than Louis and a bit lanky, and he had long legs and a cute bum. Overall he was very cuddle-able and fuck-able, which was pretty much everything Louis looked for in a boyfriend. His curls bounced with his every step in the most endearing way. Louis was almost hypnotized by them, and within seemingly no time at all, the run was over and everyone was gathered around, cursing and panting.  
Mr Harvey didn’t like wasting time on petty concerns like catching one’s breath. He blew his whistle again. Louis made a mental note to steal it from him, should the chance occur, to spare Mr Harvey’s next class.  
“Today, we’re going to practice some football skills, then in the second period we’ll play a game,” Mr Harvey said. He was pretty straightforward – he didn’t see the point in sugar-coating things. It was similar to lying, in his mind. “Get into small groups and practice your passes. Have someone in the middle act as a defender.”  
Louis went with Zayn, Liam, and a couple of boys from the school’s football team. He watched the cute boy’s blond friend lead him by the elbow through the crowd until they found some people who must’ve been his friends. He greeted them with hugs and back slaps while the curly-haired boy just greeted them with one or two words.  
The warm-up exercises passed relatively quickly, and soon enough Mr Harvey was allocating team colors. Louis saw the cute boy get red while his blond friend got blue, and he looked apologetically at him. Louis quickly switched places with Liam so he was assigned red as well. A bubble of nervousness grew in his chest, but it soon popped. This was football. He could do this. Even if there was a gorgeous boy on his team. He could play a kick-ass game and ogle the boy at the same time. It couldn’t be that hard, surely.  
It was hard. It was very hard. Louis couldn’t focus on the ball when the boy was near, and he couldn’t focus on the boy when he knew the ball was out of his line of sight. These facts were paradoxical, because it became very quickly apparent that the boy did not want to get close to the ball. He would follow the group of players, always careful to stay out of any confrontations with the other team. His blond friend, on the other hand, while he wasn’t the greatest player ever, was very enthusiastic and eager to chase the ball everywhere it went. Even though he was on the opposing team, Louis couldn’t help but internally cheer for him whenever he did a successful steal or pass.  
At one point, Louis noticed his football buddies down in defense save the ball. They always treated in-class games as a bit of pointless fun, or competitions as to who could kick the furthest or run the fastest. They showed off for a few moments before booting the ball high into the air. In the cute boy’s general direction, because he happened to be in a group of other midfield players at the time.  
Before he knew what he was doing, Louis sprinted over there and moved in front of the boy, stopping the ball with his foot as soon as it hit the ground. He looked up, met the boy’s eyes for a split second, before the boy looked away and he took off running with the ball. He wasn’t surprised to find the other team’s defenders awaiting him, but it was more of a shock when he realized the cute boy, albeit somewhat uncertainly, had followed him up to the forward position.  
He shouted, quick, guiding words: “Hey! Have a shoot!” Then, without another thought, he passed the ball in as controlled a manner as he could, praying the boy would be able to receive it and have a shot at goals.  
For a long second he looked like a deer in a headlight, before he noticed a couple defenders running at him and hastily got rid of the ball. By some stroke of sheer luck, it cleared the goalposts by mere inches.  
The red team broke into cheers, good-naturedly taunting the blues. Louis approached the boy and touched his shoulder, more gently than he would if he’d been getting the attention of anyone else.  
“Hey, good job,” he said softy.  
The boy swallowed, not quite meeting his eyes. Any confidence he’d had earlier seemed to have disappeared. Still, he managed a small smile in Louis’ direction. “Thanks,” he murmured.  
Louis squeezed his shoulder lightly before letting go, jogging back to get in position for the next round. He glanced back at the boy to find him already looking at him, though he averted his gaze immediately.  
The game ended 3-2 in favor of the red team. Louis would never have admitted it, but he watched the boy go to his friend and accept his arm around his shoulders, talking quietly to him with a small smile on his face. He was perfectly aware of how creepy it was to be smiling fondly at a complete stranger, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. When he finally drew enough strength to tear his eyes away, he made himself walk to the change rooms, slightly faster than normal in an attempt to catch up to Liam and Zayn. Of course, he had no such luck.  
As he was entering the change room, Zayn was leaving. He whacked Louis on the bum as he went past, murmuring something to do with go get lover boy and Louis scowled at him over his shoulder.

He found his bag as quickly as he could, hoping he wouldn’t have to use the shower at the end with no hot water. Luckily someone was just getting out as he arrived, and Louis was quick to claim the shower stall as soon as it was vacant.  
By the time he got out, most of the other boys had finished changing, so there were only a handful of people left in the room. Unfortunately, one of those happened to be the cute boy putting his shirt on. He pulled it down quickly when he noticed Louis, so he only caught a sliver of pale skin. He looked away, not wanting to be that locker-room creep who makes everyone else uncomfortable.  
The boy leaned into his friend and ducked his head, saying something that Louis couldn’t hear. His friend rubbed his arm a few times and the boy nodded, picked up his stuff, and left the changing room without looking back.  
His blond friend finished tying his shoelaces and slung his bag over his shoulder before approaching Louis. “Hey! I’m Niall.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Louis start a project together and talk for the first time.

Louis looked at the boy in front of him, trying not to appear as uncertain as he felt. “I’m Louis.”  
“Just wanted to t’ank you for setting Harry up for that goal,” Niall said easily, shifting his weight. “He’s very happy that he got it in.”  
Louis smiled, his eyes crinkling in the corners. His name was Harry. “No problem. He’s pretty good.”  
Niall laughed, and his amusement was infectious. “Harry sucks at football.”  
“Hey, cut him some slack. He got a goal,” Louis said with a roll of his eyes,  
“You’re so whipped,” Niall snickered.  
“What?” said Louis.  
He was panicking internally. Would Niall tell Harry? Would Harry be frightened or disgusted or even just uninterested? How did Niall even know? Was he that obvious?  
“Relax,” said Niall, clearly trying not to laugh at him. “Harry’s completely oblivious to everything. I just came over here to give you the protective-older-brother speech.”  
Louis frowned blankly.  
“You know…if you break his heart, I’ll break your face,” Niall elaborated.  
Louis nodded his understanding. If he was completely honest, it was hard to imagine Niall being violent or angry, but he decided to just take his word on it. It’s not like he was planning on hurting Harry anyway.  
“I wouldn’t, don’t worry,” he said finally. “Um…why did Harry leave so quickly a few minutes ago?”  
Niall shrugged offhandedly. “He has to get some stuff for his art project. He has it after recess.”  
“Oh. I have Civics.” Louis wrinkled his nose. “I only took Civics because I thought it’d be easy credit.”  
“Hey, maybe you can switch it,” Niall said sympathetically. “We aren’t that far into the term yet."  
“Yeah, maybe,” Louis agreed. He realized they’d been talking for so long that everyone else had left, and the room was oddly silent. “I should probably go. I’ll see you ‘round?”  
Niall nodded. “Definitely. See ya.”  
-  
To Louis’ surprise, he was allowed to switch electives immediately. He’d only dropped in to the office to enquire about it, but they’d made the changes to his timetable almost straight away. Something about pursuing the arts? Louis didn’t question them about it. Instead, he may or may not have poked his tongue out at his old Civics class as he passed it. Good riddance to that lousy, non-Harry-containing class.  
He followed his directions to the middle of the school and down the stairs, and finally found the arts building, the visual art room right in the corner. Nervously, he knocked on the door and waited.

One kid got up from his seat and opened the door. Louis could feel many curious pairs of eyes on him, except for the one pair he wanted to see. Harry had jerked his head up at the initial knock on the door, but now he as looking at his hands under the desk.  
The teachers, Ms Fiddlestone, clapped her hands. "Ah, Louis!"  
The art students designed costumes and backdrops for Louis' drama class productions, so he already knew the teacher and some of the students. Again, he slightly berated himself for not having noticed Harry sooner.  
"Good to see you here," Ms Fiddlestone continued. "Administration has told me what's going on, so your name is on my register now. We were just about to start a project, so take a seat!"  
Louis smiled and thanked her before moving to sit down, obviously, next to Harry. There were two boys on the other side of the desk who exchanged glances, but they didn't say anything.  
"Hey," he murmured.  
Harry shifted minutely, causing a loose ringlet to fall over his eye. Not that Louis could see it anyway. "Hi." There was a moment of heavy silence before he finally added, in a small voice: "Why are you here?"  
"I wasn't happy with my other elective, and Niall said you had art," Louis said. Harry wasn't looking at him, but his body was facing him at least. "I like art, so I thought why not ask to switch?"  
"Fair enough," Harry mumbled. He didn't say anything else.

Ms Fiddlestone finally got the class's attention. "Today we're starting that project I told you about last week. Remember it?"  
The class mumbled affirmatively.  
"Well, I hope you brought your brushes. I'm assigning your partners today. We used to have an uneven number of students, so we were going to have a group of three, but Louis' fixed that." She smiled at him again. "So, just partner up with whoever you're next to."  
A couple of girls across the room high-fived excitedly and Louis tried not to smile. He looked at Harry, but he couldn't see his face because his hair covered it.  
"I'm going to hand out the canvases," said Ms Fiddlestone. "I hope you've all brought your notebooks to brainstorm in."  
She walked around the class, placing one canvas A3 canvas on each desk. She went to Louis' table last, so she could explain the project to him. "Basically, you have to talk to your partner and, by the end of the term, present a portrait that represents them. Harry's a lovely boy, I'm sure he'll help you out if you want him to."  
Louis nodded. "Thanks, Ms."  
She patted him on the shoulder and walked away.  
Louis drew a smiley face in the corner of his canvas. "So..."  
He saw Harry tilt his head to look at the crude scribble, so he knew he wasn't ignoring him.  
"What does she usually expect from projects like this?" Louis asked slowly. "I'm not sure if my painting skills are on point."  
Harry smiled, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear, only to have it fall back over the side of his face. "Just...sketch an outline, th-then fill it in," Harry replied quietly. "She cares more about the process that the final product."  
Louis raised his eyebrows, mock-offended. "Are you saying my final product wouldn't get an A?"  
"No- I- of course it would, I'm sorry," Harry said hurriedly, so quickly that Louis almost couldn't decipher what he was saying.  
"Hey, don't worry." Louis rushed to reassure him. "I was joking...I'm aware of my sadly lacking artistic talent."  
Harry shrugged stiffly. "I'm sure you're alright."  
He seemed to retreat in on himself, and Louis wracked his brains for something else to talk about. Other groups were starting to sketch each other, pulling faces and arranging their hair.  
"Um, is it just a head-and-shoulders portrait, or...?" He trailed off.  
"I think so," Harry mumbled. "Um...is it okay if I, y'know..." He gestured to his canvas with the eraser end of his pencil.  
Louis nodded. "Yeah, we should probably start soon."  
Awkwardly, Louis shifted his chair and shuffled it until he was more facing Harry, who looked him over before following his example. Louis took a deep breath and started attempting to sketch the outline of Harry's face and hair, condemning his lack of artistic skill even as he was moving the pencil. About thirty seconds later he looked up to find Harry watching him, but he quickly looked back to his canvas and shuffled uncomfortably. It was tilted in such a way that Louis couldn't see his progress.

Louis was frozen for a long moment. Only for a split second had he been able to see Harry's stunning green eyes, and he yearned to see them more. Unfortunately, Harry seemed to be refusing to look up while Louis was, even that he literally needed to for the project. Louis tried to memorise as much of his face as he could before turning back to his canvas. It took a few seconds but he soon felt Harry's eyes on him once more. It took every ounce of his willpower to not look up, to not try to see Harry's face, his eyes while he scanned Louis' features. His expression while he was thinking about Louis.

Louis mentally kicked himself. He was a respectable human being with a decent amount of self control. He could handle not ogling Harry for the entirety of the class...even though he was kind of supposed to, for the assignment. Not that he minded, obviously. But, as much as Louis would've loved to stare at Harry the whole time, he knew that if he were to do so, Harry would not get far in his part of the project, for he was unwilling to risk making accidental eye contact.

At one point - only God knew how - Louis managed to fumble with his pencil and drop it, reflexively cursing all of pencilkind. Harry flinched violently, his shoulders sagging slightly when he realised it was only a pencil.  
"Sorry, I'm being a clumsy tit today," said Louis. His words were joking but his tone was one of concern, worried that he might've annoyed or upset Harry.  
Harry chewed the end of his pencil so hard that Louis could've sworn he heard a crack. "It's okay," he said. Even so, his foot tapped restlessly for the remainder of the lesson.

At the end of the period, everyone had to hand in their canvases to be put away until the next time they had art. In a shaky voice, Harry offered to take Louis's for him.  
"Thank you," Louis said softly.  
"S'okay," said Harry, barely louder than a whisper. He hesitantly took the canvas Louis offered him, careful not to let his fingers touch Louis'. Before Louis could take a peek at Harry's canvas, it was covered with his own and Harry was walking away. By the time he got back, the between-class bell was ringing and it was time to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be up in a day or two. I'm writing this as I post it, so please leave a comment and let me know what you think - I'd really appreciate it xD


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis ands Zayn to talk to Harry. He bumps into Harry a few minutes later.

"You owe me a million pounds and your firstborn child," Zayn announced grumpily, sitting down at the lunch table.  
It'd been two days since the last art class, and Louis had only seen Harry in math. He'd blatantly stared at him for a good portion of that class, since Harry was in front of him, but Harry had only looked his way once or twice, sinking deeper into his seat when he found Louis already looking at him.  
His crush on Harry had only gotten bigger, but he couldn't be sure if Harry was shy because he liked him back or because he didn't know how to tell him to fuck off. Obviously, the only solution for this dilemma was to bribe one of his friends to ask for him.  
"Did you ask him?" Louis asked, as soon as Zayn sat down.  
Zayn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I didn't get a straight answer. Poor kid seemed really nervous, like the I'm-gonna-throw-up kind of nervous."  
"Aw." Louis cringed at the thought of Harry's discomfort.  
"Why don't you just go talk to him yourself?" Zayn suggested, as if it was that simple.  
Louis shrugged helplessly. "I don't want him to think I'm creepy or scary if he doesn't even like me back." It seemed a terribly frightening thing, to make a fool of himself in front of someone he liked, if they didn't return the feelings. Louis would rather hide behind his friends - then, if Harry said no, it didn't have to be awkward the next time they saw each other, for they could pretend it had never happened.  
"Well he's going to get creeped out anyway if you just ogle him from a distance all the time," Zayn said, with his stupid logical voice.  
Louis groaned. Stupid Zayn and his dumb logical advice. "Alright, I'll talk to him myself. Today, I will."  
Zayn narrowed his eyes at Louis doubtfully. As much as he loved his friend, he did have a history of avoiding his responsibilities. And after his own attempted conversation with Harry, he'd noticed the boy was unusually nervous and agitated, and would not stop fidgeting and looking around.  
"You might need to be careful about it, though," he warned Louis.

\--

"Hey! Harry," Zayn called, approaching his and Niall's lunch table.  
Niall turned around to look at him, and Harry looked up from his strange looking salad.  
"Who are you?" asked Niall.  
Zayn looked him up and down. "I'm Louis' friend, you know him?"  
"Oh yeah." Niall nodded in recognition, and his posture became more relaxed. The same, however, could not be said for Harry, who was still sitting stiffly on the edge of his chair, staring at his food but not eating it. Zayn caught him eyeing him up from beneath his eyelashes, but he only looked at Zayn's face when Zayn wasn't watching.  
"So, Harry, can I talk to you for a second please?" Zayn asked politely. He instinctively spoke more softly, more kindly than he usually would. Maybe it was instinct - or maybe, he knew Louis would kill him if he scared Harry away. Probably a bit of both. Almost definitely a bit of both.  
Harry looked up at his face for the first time, but Zayn had the unnerving feeling that he wasn't quite looking him in the eyes. "You mean-" He gestured away from the table.  
"Yeah, if that's not a problem," said Zayn.  
Niall laughed quietly and made some hand gesture under the table as Harry got up, but he did squeeze the boy's arm reassuringly as he went past. Zayn slouched a little, trying not to seem too in-his-face.  
They walked to the wall by the edge of the cafeteria, Harry lagging a bit behind. He had one hand at his mouth, chewing furiously on his fingernails.  
"Um, I'm not going to keep you for very long, so don't worry," said Zayn. "But...you know Louis?"  
"Yeah," Harry said. His voice cracked. He rearranged his hair for the millionth time.  
"Well...do you like him?"  
Harry flinched minutely, looking up and meeting Zayn's eyes by accident. "I guess so...why? If-if he hates me, I can-"  
Zayn spotted the oncoming panic and hastily tried to reassure the other boy. "No! No, it's okay," he said quickly. "I just have a bit of a feeling that, um. He might like you."  
"What." It came out before Harry could stop it, and he reflexively slapped a hand over his own mouth. He met Zayn's eyes once more before anxiously glancing side to side. "Look, if this is some k-kind of prank...just leave me alone."  
He started to walk back to his table, but Zayn put a hand on his shoulder and he stopped instantly. "I promise I'm not just yanking your chain," he said sincerely. "Do you like him, though?"  
Harry pulled away from Zayn's grip and backed away, shaking his head. "Leave me alone, I'm going b-back to Niall."  
Zayn followed him, stopping him again. "Hang on, wait. I can tell him to leave you alone if you want?"  
"No- I just- go away." Harry jerked away, out of reach, when Zayn went to touch his arm. "Leave me alone, please."  
"Alright." Zayn stopped. He didn't want to make Harry more worked up than he already was. He went to apologize, but one second later Harry was slipping past him, running back to Niall.

\--

"So then I just came back here," Zayn said, finishing his explanation to Louis.  
Louis was frowning. "Do you reckon he was just nervous about you or he's not interested in me at all?" he asked quietly.  
Liam wasn't sitting with them today. Sometimes he sat with Danielle's group, or they sneaked off to be alone somewhere. He was always thoroughly teased about it the next time Louis and Zayn saw him, but he didn't really seem to mind.  
"I don't know man," said Zayn apologetically. "Sorry. You're just gonna have to try."  
Louis looked over his shoulder. Both Niall and Harry had left their table and were nowhere to be seen.  
"I'm so, so fucked." He groaned loudly. "I'm going to the bathroom."  
Zayn waved him away, and scowled when Louis ruffled his hair on the way past. "Fuckin' hate you," he mumbled.  
Louis fluttered his eyelashes and blew a pouty kiss at Zayn just before he disappeared past the doorway.

As soon as he got into the hallway, he ran both hands over his face in frustration. He'd probably fucked everything up. What if Harry wasn't even shy usually, but Louis just made him so uncomfortable? What if he was straight? He was probably too polite to turn Louis down.  
He finally got to the bathroom, but it didn't seem so important anymore. He went in anyway.

"-just freaked and wimped out! - Oh my god."  
Louis met the shocked eyes of Harry and Niall with his own. He could not catch a break today. Harry seemed to be still adrenaline-filled from his ranting because he looked at Louis wth a strange expression on his face, but no apparent fear.  
"Hey- um, I'm sorry," Louis stuttered. "I'm not quite sure what Zayn said to you but I hope he didn't bother you."  
Niall nudged Harry with his shoulder, and Harry showed a small smile. Louis couldn't stop the wide grin that came onto his face at the sight of it.  
"It's fine," Harry said. Louis physically ached when he realised the adrenaline that had fuelled Harry's lively speech to Niall now seemed to be fading. He found himself attempting to memorise the color of Harry's eyes in case he decided to hide them again.  
The room was momentarily quiet, until Niall laughed. "The heart eyes game is so strong right now."  
Louis could've killed Niall in that moment, because Harry's cheeks flushed red and he refused to look anywhere but Niall and the grubby bathroom floor.  
"What do you mean?" Louis asked.  
"Oh, you both just keep doing the lovey eyes at each other," Niall explained. Harry elbowed him in the ribs, and Niall fended him off while he finished talking. "Making me a little bit sick, to be honest."  
Louis laughed nervously. "Sorry, I had no idea I was doing it."  
Niall shook his head with a grin, walking to one of the toilet stalls with a sharpie he'd magically produced. "Lunch is almost over, so I've just gotta respond to my fans while I'm here," he said.  
"Are you the one who started the writing on that door?" Louis asked in disbelief.  
"Yeah, 'twas Harry's idea, actually," Niall said, laughing once more. He sat on the closed toilet seat lid and uncapped his sharpie, leaning forward to write with the familiar dark purple. He partly closed the stall door to give himself an easier angle to work with, but it also meant he was out of Louis and Harry's sight.  
Harry fiddled with the hem of his shirt, trying to find somewhere to look that wasn't the mirror or Louis' face. "Zayn, um..."  
Louis looked at him with a mixture of interest and embarrassment, which Harry thankfully didn't see.  
"He s-said that you...might like me," he mumbled the last part so quickly that Louis almost missed it. His fingers were wringing the bottom of his shirt, and it would surely be crinkled later.  
"Would you be against that?" Louis asked softly, taking a small step closer.  
"Um." Harry finally looked Louis in the eye, taking comfort in the fact that Louis didn't look angry or offended at all. "No."  
Louis moved closer and took Harry's hands, which were tense but soft. Harry looked ready to run at any moment, but too curious to do it.  
"Well then," said Louis. He had nothing to lose - it was now or never. "Harry, will you go out with me?"  
"Ye- okay." Harry had a shy smile on his face, which Louis met with an ear-to-ear grin. He scanned Louis' face openly, his fingers tentatively sliding further into Louis' hands. Butterflies fluttered in their stomachs, and Louis was beginning to consider pulling Harry into a hug when they heard Niall cackling in his stall.  
"Fuckin' finally!" he crowed. He opened the door and put the cap back on his sharpie. "I've been waiting for this moment ever since 'Arry told me about the crash in the hallway."  
Niall's laugh was infectious and Louis couldn't help but grin with him. One of Harry's hands was still in his own, so he squeezed it warmly and Harry looked at him and squeezed his in return.

Unfortunately, the school bell echoed through the halls right when Louis began to speak, so they didn't have time to arrange anything.  
"I'll see you in art," Louis said to Harry, who nodded and smiled at him with his beautiful dimples. Louis wondered what it'd be like to lick dimples, and he only realised he must've been staring too long when Harry flushed red and turned his gaze downward.

They said their awkward goodbyes at the door with Niall pissing himself laughing behind them before parting ways, although Louis did notice the way Niall slung himself over Harry's shoulder and ruffled his hair encouragingly as soon as they got into the hallway. Harry made a halfhearted attempt to shake him off, but he didn't look too disappointed to remain close to Niall's side until they were out of sight.


End file.
